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In supported regions, Google Maps will tell me how long it will take to drive from A to B in current traffic conditions. It can also colour-code roads according to traffic conditions for a specific date and time of the week. However, is it possible to estimate driving time for a specific date and time of the week?

(For a (long) weekend trip, I'm estimating whether it's worth to take the train from Toronto to Barrie and rent a car from there, as opposed to renting a car from Toronto)

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    Few minutes ago, it took me 1h30 to drive from semangi plaza, Jakarta to ciledug, Jakarta, while google maps told me it would take 21 minutes (including traffic), I never trust the traffic thing in maps. It also showed me wrong traffic information...
    – Nean Der Thal
    Commented May 22, 2014 at 17:44
  • related: travel.stackexchange.com/questions/26597/…
    – user141
    Commented May 23, 2014 at 6:32
  • @NeanDerThal Has the Google Maps time estimate reliability in your area improved at all in the past 4½ years?
    – gerrit
    Commented Oct 8, 2018 at 15:27
  • I am not currently in Indonesia, I will be there next month and I will update you. However, in Saudi Arabia it's close to perfection now.
    – Nean Der Thal
    Commented Oct 8, 2018 at 18:42

4 Answers 4

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Yes!

Google maps recently added the possibility of doing exactly this! I noticed it for the first time today. When you query the route for a specific destination a new option shows up above the possible routes which allows you to choose to depart at a particular time or arrive at a particular time. In the later case it suggests the time that you should leave. The length of the drive is given as a range of times which can, admittedly, be pretty broad. I have asked the communnity how this range of drive times is defined, but it has not received an answer as of yet.

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  • Note that this appears to be possible only with the new Google Maps.
    – gerrit
    Commented Mar 14, 2015 at 1:14
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    This appears impossible on the android app. Either that or I couldnt find the feature
    – Peter Raeves
    Commented Sep 10, 2015 at 21:08
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No, not on Google Maps.

However, you CAN partially accomplish this using Waze. Waze was acquired by Google in 2013.

Use Waze's "check routes for a different time" feature allows specifying a different time, but as far as I can tell it doesn't allow specifying a specific date or even a specific day of the week.

Screenshot of Waze's "Check routes for a different time" feature, showing only a 24-hour dropdown option

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10

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Google used to provide this service, but stopped apparently some time in 2011, saying it was inaccurate because it "provided users with the worst case traffic scenario based on historic traffic data." They have since added current traffic condition reporting/routing, but it doesn't predict into the future.

From this post:

The new time-in-traffic feature provides users with the ability to check current traffic conditions and estimates the length of travel time based on constantly refreshed data. (Emphasis mine)

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  • Traffic estimates seem to have become better since Google's acquisition of Waze, but I imagine that would only be true in areas where there are many regular Waze contributors.
    – choster
    Commented May 22, 2014 at 19:53
  • @choster: That's still for real-time data though, right?
    – Flimzy
    Commented May 22, 2014 at 20:08
  • Yes, only for realtime, at least for the time being.
    – choster
    Commented May 22, 2014 at 20:11
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    Unaccepting as this answer seems to show it appears (once again?) possible.
    – gerrit
    Commented Feb 1, 2015 at 17:58
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if you use https://www.google.com/maps?output=classic you can put your route in, then click traffic in the upper right. The traffic controls will show up in the lower left. Then you can change from live traffic to 'Traffic at day and time:'

I am not sure if it actually affects the time but it does at least show you the predicted traffic for that day of the week at that time.

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  • Was this service recently restarted?
    – gerrit
    Commented Feb 1, 2015 at 17:57
  • I dont know if it was ever officially turned off. I think they just hid it behind the new output display style
    – George
    Commented Feb 2, 2015 at 14:31

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